Writing instrument

ABSTRACT

A writing instrument having a forward writing point portion and a removable cap therefor, the cap and writing portions each including internal thin-walled collarlike cylindrical portions whose free ends cooperate with sections of the opposite removable port to provide a tight seal.

United States Patent Curtis L. Malm Norwalk, Calif. 825,190

May 16, 1969 July 13, 1971 The Gillette Company Santa Monica, Calif.

Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee WRITING INSTRUMENT 5 Claims,5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 401/202, 401 199 Int. Cl. 843k 8/00 Field olSearch 401/98,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,424,539 1/1969 Jenkins401/199 2,881,736 4/1959 Zepelovitch... 401/104 3,427,114 2/1969 Dziuk401/199 3,446,563 5/1969 Bumham 401/202 FOREIGN PATENTS 319,505 4/1957Switzerland 401/98 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles Attorney-Miketta,Glenny, Poms & Smith ABSTRACT: A writing instrument having a forwardwriting point portion and a removable cap therefor, the cap and writingportions each including internal thin-walled collarlike cylindricalportions whose free ends cooperate with sections of the oppositeremovable port to provide a tight seal.

. PATENTEU JUL 1 319?:

INVEA/TQQ. (2 2775 L. MHLM WRITHNG INSTRUMENT The present inventionrelates to an improved construction of a writing instrument whichpermits the manufacture of inexpensive, but very efficient, writinginstruments. More specifically, the invention is directed to a writinginstrument which includes a hollow barrel provided with a forwardlyfacing stop shoulder just to the rear of a forwardly extending,generally conical, writing point portion; although certain aspects ofthe construction are new per se, the invention also contemplates a noveland efficient removable cap for use with this writing instrument,portions of the barrel cooperating with certain portions of the cap soas to insure efficient and long utilization of the writing point and theink employed in the writing instrument.

The term writing point" as used herein may include the well knownballpoint tip and the so-called porous writing tip as well as othertypes of points, nibs or styli. However, particular attention will bedirected to the utilization of the invention with a so-called porouspoint, the term porous point including any type of writing point inwhich ink is fed from a reservoir carried by the barrel to the actualwriting end by channels exerting some capillary effect upon the ink soas to feed the ink from the reservoir to the writing point. Such pointscan be made from various fibrous materials, including both natural andartificial fibers (such as filaments, thread, tow or the like) composedof polyethylene, polyamides, polyesters, and other plastic materialseither in extruded or drawn and hardened form. These various fibrousmaterials are formed into writing tips of desired rigidity and porosityby bonding the preferably generally aligned fibers or filaments with asuitable curable resinous adhesive. Other porous points" may be made ofsintered plastics, metals or ceramic materials in finely granular orpowdered form.

An object of the present invention therefore is to disclose and providean improved construction of writing instruments as herein broadlydefined.

Another object is to disclose and provide an inexpensive writinginstrument whose body or barrel is adapted to cooperate with a capmember, and proper centralization of the point within the cap andsealing of the writing point within the cap is attained.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled inthe art from the following description. For purposes of illustration,reference will be had to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 generally indicates one form of writing instrument which may bemade in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of a writing barrel madein accordance with the invention;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are transverse sections taken along planes lll-lll andlV-lV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section, partly in elevation, of acap constructed in accordance with this invention in cooperatingrelation to an ink-filled pen barrel.

As generally indicated in FlG. l, the writing instrument of the presentinvention includes a barrel 1 having a body of sufficiently largeinternal diameter to accommodate a suitable quantity of ink or asufficiently large capillary type of absorbent cylinder adapted to holdand supply to the writing point an adequate amount of ink, The barrel 1is preferably provided with an open rear end for the insertion of ink,reservoir filler, etc., such end being normally closed by a plug 2. Theforwardly extending writing point portion 3 holds a suitable writingpoint 4 in position, and the entire writing point portion may bedistinguished from the barrel per se as being that portion which isforward of shoulder 5. Such a writing instrument may be provided with aremovable cap 6 of suitable artistic configuration, adapted to fit overthe writing point portion of the instrument so as to protect the pointfrom accidental breakage, the cap being provided with clip 7 whereby thecapped instrument may be readily carried on the edge of a pocket.

The writing instrument barrel illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 isparticularly adapted for use with a rigid, porous point made ofpolyamide filamentary material, preferably aligned in general and bondedat discontinuously associated points while such fibers are under tensionin the manner disclosed in copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No.560,405 (Goodenow, et al.). In the form illustrated in these FIGS. thebarrel 1 is provided with a main chamber ll which receives a preformedmass of porous absorbent material, saturated with ink, such materialcooperating with the body of the barrel to provide a reservoir for ink.

The internal configuration of the chamber 11 may vary. In someinstances, it may be desirable to have the walls of the chamber illinclude flattened areas such as 12, each provided with a groove l6 whichextends longitudinally of the barrel for an appreciable portion of itslength and is used as a means of supplying air from a vent openinglocated at one end of the barrel to the opposite end of the barrel.Venting or means of supplying air to the reservoir are highly desirable,and may comprise a small port 177 The forward end of the reservoirchamber ill of the barrel is associated with and preferably integralwith the writing point portion 3 located forwardly of the forwardlyfacing shoulder 5 formed in the outer surface of the writing instrument.The external configuration of the writing point portion 3 is preferablygenerally frustoconical and in the drawings is shown provided with anaxially extending bore 13 adapted to snugly receive a writing point.This axial bore is rearwardly enlarged in order to place the area aroundthe point in communication with the reservoir chamber 11. An enlargedsomewhat conical internal chamber within the writing point is indicatedat 14. As indicated by sections illustrated in FlGS. 3 and and 4, thetransition from the chamber 14 to the main reservoir chamber lll is notsmooth; the walls of chamber M may include three angularly relatedsurfaces at 60 to each other, these surfaces in turn terminating in atransverse plane wherein each of the inclined longitudinally directedsurfaces terminates in a rearwardly facing abutment surface area such asthe abutment surface areas l5, l5 and 15'. This arrangementautomatically provides three spaced transverse abutments against whichthe porous or absorbent ink-containing cartridge or reservoir filler 34may abut and against which it can be stopped when it is introduced intothe barrel 1 through the rear open end of such barrel.

As best indicated in FIG. 4, the three abutment surfaces l5, l5 and K5",are equiangularly related and one or more of the longitudinallyextending grooves 16 may be used for conducting air from around thewriting point to the rear portion of the ink carrying filler in chamber1 l. The grooves need not extend completely to the rear end of thechamber since in the form illustrated, the cross-sectional area of thechamber is gradually increased from front to rear so as to facilitatecore withdrawal during injection molding of the entire barrel andwriting point assembly. The rear portion of the barrel may not becompletely filled with filler and will be receptive to air therearound.

Forwardly of the stop shoulder 5, the writing point is provided with aforwardly extending latch collar 20. The forward end portion of thiscylindrical thin-walled collar is provided with an outwardly directedbead or bulge and tapered forwardly and inwardly as indicated at 21; therear end of the collar is integral with the body of the writing pointportion. it is to be noted that this latch collar has a concaved outersurface rearwardly of an outwardly extending bead or ridge formed by itsforward edge Zll: such concavity reduces the median thickness of thecollar wall and insures flexibility thereof; in actual practice, thethickness of latch collar 20 at its zone of minimum thickness may be onthe order of 0.016 inch to 0.02 inch. Moreover, the forward edge 21 ofthe latch collar is to the rear of the terminal forward portion of thewriting point portion 3. The form of cap shown in the drawings isparticularly adapted for use with pens employing so-called porous tips.It is very important to make certain that this type of pen does notexpose its writing tip to the dehydrating action of ambient airunnecessarily when it is not in actual use. The construction hereindisclosed makes certain that the writing point is properly centeredwithin its cap and that such point is sealed from atmosphere.

As shown in the drawings, the cap 6 is provided with a closed end 30(into which point receiving bore 22 extends) and an open end 31 oflarger internal diameter than the bore 22. The end portion 31 is acylindrical wall portion which may be thin except for that part of thewall which is formed into the rib and clip 7. The end portion 31 isnormally adapted to seat upon the forwardly facing stop shoulder of thebarrel.

The internal surface of the bore 22 is preferably provided with threeequally angularly spaced inwardly extending ribs adapted to guide thewriting point 4 and the forward terminal end portion of the conicalwriting point portion 3 ofthe barrel into the cap. One of such ribs isindicated at 23. Between the bore 22 and the larger end portion 31, thecap is provided with a thin-walled cylindrical sealing collar 24, suchsealing collar having a free end 25 (directed toward the open end of thecap) while the rest of the collar is an integral part of the cap. Theinternal surface of the open end portion 31 of the cap is also providedwith a plurality of angularly spaced dimples, such as 26. These dimples26 are spaced from the end of the cap a shorter distance than thedistance between the largest end portion of the latching collar 20,thereby insuring the location of the dimples 26 in position to contactthe concave outer surface of the latching collar when the cap is inplace with its end 21 seated on the stop shoulder 5.

When the cap is seated on shoulder 5 of the barrel, it is held there bythe snap action of dimples 26 with respect to the outwardly directedbead of latch collar 20. Simultaneously, the free end 25 of sealingcollar 24 contacts the gently tapering outer surface of point portion 3and forms a seal which completely isolates the porous point 4 from theaction of atmosphere.

FIG. 5 also illustrates one method of holding a porous point in positionin bore 113 of the writing point portion of barrel 1, namely by means ofa wire retainer 27 driven through the wall and point therein. The endplug 2 may be press fitted into the rear end of barrel ll, or may besimilarly staked by means of a wire or may be adhesively secured to thebarrel. In many instances, it is desirable to make the end 2 of the plugof a reduced diameter (adapted to fit into open end 21 of the cap) so asto permit the cap to be carried by the rear end of the barrel when thewriting instrument is being usertlv It will be evident from the abovedescription and drawings that applicant has disclosed a simple andinexpensive construction, employing a minimum number of parts, which arepreferably made of polypropylene or other plastic. The resilience of theplastic is utilized in the construction to provide the snap-on latch,shirt edge grasping, resilience to the clip bar 7 and a perfect air sealbetween point 3 and the thin sealing collar 24 which is protectivelylocated within the openended portion 31. Assembly is rapid andfoolproof. Various types of writing points can be employed. All changescoming within the scope of the claims are embraced thereby.

lclaim:

1. in a writing instrument including a hollow barrel provided with aforwardly facing stop shoulder and a forwardly extending generallyconical writing portion on said barrel and a removable cap, theprovision of:

a forwardly extending latch collar provided with a forwardly andinwardly tapered forward edge carried by the writing point portion withsaid forward edge spaced rearwardly from the front of the writing pointportion and radially outwardly from said writing point portion, saidcollar having a concaved outer surface rearwardly of its forward edge;and a removable cap for said writing point portion, said cap having acylindrical wall portion with an open end, the end of said wall at suchopen end being adapted to seat on a forwardly facing stop shoulder onthe barrel;

the internal surface of said cylindrical wall portion of the capincluding a plurality of inwardly extending angularly related dimplesadapted to contact the concave surface of the collar when the end of thecap wall is seated on the stop shoulder.

2. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1 wherein the cap is providedwith an integral clip bar extending beyond said open end of the cap intoproximity with the barrel.

3. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1 wherein the cap has aclosed end opposite said open end and a point-receiving bore extendinginto said closed end, said bore being of smaller diameter than said openend, and a thin-walled cylindrical sealing collar positioned within andunitary with the cap between said bore and open end, said sealing collarhaving a free end facing the open end and being free to adjustablyposition itself in sealing relation to the writing point portion of awriting instrument inserted into said cap.

4. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1, said cap being providedwith a closed end opposite said open end and a point-receiving boreextending into said closed end, said bore being of smaller diameter thansaid open end.

5. in a writing instrument including a removable unitary cap and clipand a barrel, the provision of:

said cap having a closed end and an open end, a bore extending into theclosed end, said bore being of smaller diameter than the inner diameterof the open end;

a thin-walled cylindrical sealing collar extension of said borepositioned within and unitary with the cap between said bore and openend, said sealing collar having a free end facing the open end and beingfree to accept and sealingly contact the outer surface of a writingpoint portion of a writing instrument inserted into said cap;

a clip bar integral with said cap, said bar having a surface parallel tothe bore axis of the cap but spaced therefrom and extending beyond saidopen end, said cap and clip bar being composed of an organic plasticwhose resiliency is reflected and utilized in the clip bar; and

said barrel having a forwardly facing stop shoulder and a fonlvardlyextending generally conical writing portion, said writing portionintegrally carrying a forwardly extending inwardly tapered latch collarhaving a forward edge spaced rearwardly from the front of the writingportion and radially outwardly from said writing portion, said capincluding inwardly extending means adapted to contact said latch collarouter surface so as to retain said cap on said barrel when the end ofthe cap abuts said barrel stop shoulder.

1. In a writing instrument including a hollow barrel provided with aforwardly facing stop shoulder and a forwardly extending generallyconical writing portion on said barrel and a removable cap, theprovision of: a forwardly extending latch collar provided with aforwardly and inwardly tapered forward edge carried by the writing pointportion with said forward edge spaced rearwardly from the front of thewriting point portion and radially outwardly from said writing pointportion, said collar having a concaved outer surface rearwardly of itsforward edge; and a removable cap for said writing point portion, saidcap having a cylindrical wall portion with an open end, the end of saidwall at such open end being adapted to seat on a forwardly facing stopshoulder on the barrel; the internal surface of said cylindrical wallportion of the cap including a plurality of inwardly extending angularlyrelated dimples adapted to contact the concave surface of the collarwhen the end of the cap wall is seated on the stop shoulder.
 2. Awriting instrument as stated in claim 1 wherein the cap is provided withan integral clip bar extending beyond said open end of the cap intoproximity with the barrel.
 3. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1wherein the cap has a closed end opposite said open end and apoint-receiving bore extending into said closed end, said bore being ofsmaller diameter than said open end, and a thin-walled cylindricalsealing collar positioned within and unitary with the cap between saidbore and open end, said sealing collar having a free end facing the openend and being free to adjustably position itself in sealing relation tothe writing point portion of a writing instrument inserted into saidcap.
 4. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1, said cap beingprovided with a closed end opposite said open end and a point-receivingbore extending into said closed end, said bore being of smaller diameterthan said open end.
 5. In a writing instrument including a removableunitary cap and clip and a barrel, the provision of: said cap having aclosed end and an open end, a bore extending into the closed end, saidbore being of smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the open end;a thin-walled cylindrical sealing collar extension of said borepositioned within and unitary with the cap between said bore and openend, said sealing collar having a free end facing the open end and beingfree to accept and sealingly contact the outer surface of a writingpoint portion of a writing instrument inserted into said cap; a clip barintegral with said cap, said bar having a surface parallel to the boreaxis of the cap but spaced therefrom and extending beyond said open end,said cap and clip bar being composed of an organic plastic whoseresiliency is reflected and utilized in the clip bar; and said barrelhaving a forwardly facing stop shoulder and a forwardly extendinggenerally conical writing portion, said writing portion integrallycarrying a forwardly extending inwardly tapered latch collar having aforward edge spaced rearwardly from the front of the writing portion andradially outwardly from said writing portion, said cap includinginwardly extending means adapted to contact said latch collar outersurface so as to retain said cap on said barrel when the end of the capabuts saId barrel stop shoulder.